


looking for stars

by kieroncri



Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: The Next Generation
Genre: Friends to Lovers, M/M, Oblivious, Romance and Drama, but this is like post-season 7 pre-generations, i don't understand how stardates work and at this point i'm too afraid to ask, just a couple of bros trying to figure things out, riker giving just the worst advice
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-03
Updated: 2020-10-03
Packaged: 2020-10-05 22:38:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,321
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20496482
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kieroncri/pseuds/kieroncri
Summary: geordi is going through something of an existential crisis, he's definately not in the state for data to get through to him about a potential relationship.luckily, riker's got some great advice to help data do just thatwhat could possibly go wrong?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> this is a very short opening chapter to a longer story in which data will v foolishly devise a plan to make geordi jealous! 
> 
> it's also my first fic ever! 
> 
> the chapters should alternate between geordi's pov and data's! should have data's chapter following up v v soon so stay tuned!

It’s not that Geordi felt stagnant. Well, okay yeah he did. He had mentioned it in a personal log not three days ago - ‘Chief Engineer's Personal Log, Stardate 48361.5. I’m starting to feel stagnant...’ - but, it’s not like Geordi was unhappy. He had no reason to be, he had achieved what he had been working tirelessly for his entire life. You see, Geordi had decided from a young age exactly what he wanted. To join Starfleet, to discover and explore, and as his father had always told him - repeatedly and relentlessly - he wouldn't get any of those things, unless he worked, really damn hard.

So that's what he did, constantly; throughout school and the academy, on the Victory and the Hood, and now here he was on the Enterprise. He was Chief Engineer on one of the most impressive ships in the Federation and still, Geordi occasionally found himself pushing down that tiny, little voice in the back of his mind asking, ‘now what?’. Geordi felt that a lot of the time he enjoyed the pursuit of happiness more than actually possessing it. The pursuit was open-ended, the promise of achieving his dream had all the endless, exciting possibilities that he could think of.

But now he had done it, achieved his dream; and whilst there certainly remained nothing that Geordi was more passionate about than engineering, reality can never truly live up to everything you hoped for.

He had the thing that was supposed to make him ‘happy’, completely satisfied. Now, he was just supposed to live the life he had worked for. Alas, without any real personal goal, it was honestly all becoming a bit cumbersome. The ‘ongoing’ part of the mission was feeling more and more daunting everyday. Seven years in, Geordi wasn’t sure how to measure progress anymore.

At times like this, when he was stuck in a bit of a rut, he sometimes worried if basing his entire life on a fantasy he had as a child wasn’t the best idea. He could admit that he sometimes had a little trouble distinguishing what he truly wanted, from what he thought he should have, maybe this was one of those things? Had he buried himself in a hole? Was he ever going to be satisfied with what he had? And dear god, where did he leave that damn laser conduit? He had it right in his hand just a second ago.

“Gomez, do you know where I put that conduit I just had?”

His coworker looked up from her calibrations.

“Oh um, do you mean that one on the console, um right next to you,” she replied, looking a little bashful.

Geordi glanced down and sure enough it was right in front of him.

“Ah right, yeah thanks,” he said, grabbing it quickly. “One of those days I guess.”

“A lot on your mind?” She asked with a smile.

Geordi sighed. “Yeah you could say that.”

Gomez seemed to perk up at this, not that that was rare, Gomez was a constant ball of energy, buzzing seemed to be her default.

“Oh me to! I’ve been thinking about the award all day.”

“What award?”

“The outstanding service award! Everyone’s been talking about it for weeks,” she almost exclaimed, as if she had just been waiting for the opportunity to bring it up.

“Oh yeah,” Geordi said with a smile, shaking his head. “I had forgotten all about that.”

She sighed rather dramatically. “Really? I can’t wait to find out who it’s going to.”

“Oh Gomez, come on. It’s a glorified employee of the month award. Honestly I find the whole thing a little patronising.”

Gomez was apparently appalled by this. “What do you mean? It's a big deal Geordi, the Captain is choosing the winner personally!”

Geordi chuckled and raised his eyebrows. “Yeah, I bet he’s real excited about that.”

“Well I think it’d be a great honour to be chosen,” she said, turning back to her work.

“Mhmm.”

“You’ll come to the ceremony right?” She turned back to Geordi with renewed excitement. “I mean, not that I think it’s going to be me or anything, but it’d be nice if you were there!”

“Yeah yeah sure,” he waved a hand dismissively.

“I mean if the award goes to anyone in Engineering, it’s gotta go to you!”

He chuckled. “I don’t know Gomez, you might give me a run for my money.”

She beamed and Geordi smiled back. He would go, why not, right? Geordi didn’t need a pat on the back for a job well done, but a little excitement - and perhaps some recognition - would be a welcome change of pace.


	2. Chapter 2

“Do you remember what we talked about last time Data?”

The android was seated opposite Counselor Troi in her office; a room that seemed to have been designed with the sole intention of gently pacifying those who occupied it - all spartan, with subdued greens and purples, low lighting and furniture with curved edges. Still, anyone who didn’t know better might take a look at Data and deduce that the placid decor had little effect on him. The way he was sat so pointedly still and bolt upright on the edge of the couch exuded nothing but unease. This was untrue for reasons obvious to anyone in the know, but Data would be lying if he described the conversation as being a particularly pleasant one.

He nodded. “Yes counselor. I remember everything discussed in every single one of our sessions.”

Troi smiled. “That’s good. So, you remember what I said about taking a different approach to your experiences.”

He nodded once again, expression unchanged. “Yes, you said that, as I am not human, I should not attempt to define my reactions and internal states by human terms.”

“Exactly, so although you may not experience emotions in the human sense…”

“It does not mean I do not, in some sense, have them, or that my responses are not at least equally valid.” Data recited the words back as they had been told to him in their other discussions, despite the recent and overwhelming evidence to the contrary. Time and time again, Data’s inability to process the world around him in a way considered anything other than machine-like seemed to only cause upset and misunderstandings.

“Precisely, Data,” Troi responded, beaming. 

Data nodded, and stared for a moment, carefully considering Troi’s words before frowning. “However, I fail to see how that relates to this particular… issue.”

Troi’s smile barely faltered. It was their third meeting in a row on the topic of Data’s love life, or rather, lack thereof. After a series of failed attempts at a relationship the situation was looking bleak - he had barely gotten to a third date with Lieutenant Hoy before he had told Data that they “just weren’t really suited”, whilst he hadn’t even made it to a second with Ensign Bailey, and the less said about what happened with Lieutenant Little the better - despite the Counselor's efforts to encourage a positive outlook, they were making little progress. Still, Troi managed to remain as patient as ever in the face of his persistent and increasing pessimism.

“Well, you’re worried that your lack of emotions would make you incompatible with a partner in a romantic sense.”

“Yes, in the past it has been a major obstacle in forming a... _ bond _with potential partners.” Data said the word with a vaguely pained expression, he was a little overly familiar with the phrase as only being associated with disappointment in his direction.

She gave Data a slightly sympathetic look. “Right, well yes, it’s true you have a small history of struggling with... romantic pursuits.” 

Data raised his eyebrows.

“Er but, you’ve managed to form a great number of successful platonic relationships,” she said quickly. “You’ve made and maintained friendships that have lasted years, that’s more than many humans manage.”

Data gave yet another nod, but his eyebrows remained raised on his forehead in a way that conveyed his doubt. Data of course had nothing but faith in Troi’s counseling. Never had she steered him wrong, or proved herself to be anything other than positively astute in her observations and understanding of his inner workings. Yet, it was undeniable that she was one of the friends she was describing. Sometimes he could not help wondering if Troi was attempting to spare his feelings, so to speak.

“That is true, counselor.” Data gave carefully. 

“You’re lack of emotions hasn’t gotten in the way of these friendships, even though in a platonic relationship there is still the expectation of forming some kind of _ emotional bond. _" 

“Data, you are never hesitant to remind anyone of your lack of emotions, your friends accept you anyway. They - _ we _ understand that whilst you may not _ feel _exactly as we do, you still value us in your own way. I see no reason why a romantic partner couldn’t do the same.”

Her voice went up in pitch at the end of her last sentence as if it could be a question if Data decided so, but he remained silent, now staring at the ground between them with a slight frown.

Eventually, Troi gave a small sigh. Data detected some frustration that he assumed was born from empathy with his situation, rather than annoyance at him personally.

“I really mean it Data,” she said finally. “I do very much believe that you shouldn’t define yourself by our terms, and I don’t think time should be wasted on anyone who insists upon it.”

The logic of her argument seemed undeniable, supported even more by the genuine concern in her tone. Unfortunately, it was becoming increasingly clear that the issue wasn't so much Data approach, as it was the chances of Data coming across anyone who was that understanding. So far his search had proved... unsuccessful. 

Nevertheless, they were reaching the end of the hour, and Data had plans.

‘I see, you might be right counselor, thank you for your time.’ Data said softly.

“No problem Data.”

He rose from his seat. “If you’ll excuse me, I was hoping to attend the Outstanding Service ceremony this evening, and there are some tasks I must complete beforehand.”

“Ah yes, I heard Geordi’s a favourite to win.”

“Yes, I would like to be there if he is successful.”

Troi beamed. "I'm sure he'll be very pleased to have your support. Same time next week then?”

Data nodded curtly and strode out of Troi’s office, heading down the corridor toward the turbolift and engineering. 

  



	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yikes this took a while
> 
> here it is if anyones still interested !!! (lmao rip)
> 
> enjoy, let me know what u think, the next chapter won't take like A YEAR i PROMISE

By 1900 hours, Ten Forward was brimming. Of course Geordi had expected a fair turn out, the award ceremony was a shipwide event after all. It had certainly preoccupied the minds of almost the entire engineering team for the best part of the day. Still, he was taken aback when he arrived that evening to find what seemed to be half the Enterprise packed into the dimly lit lounge. The only spare seat at the bar being firmly guarded by Sonya, between Worf and herself. Geordi hadn’t anticipated anything like this. He practically had to shout to be heard over the bustle and chatter.

“It’s what?!” Geordi half-yelled, leaning toward the commander in his seat. 

“A waste of time,” Worf repeated firmly, leaning towards him in turn.

“I - sorry?!” 

“A waste of time!”

“A way from what?!”

“A WASTE OF TIME!” 

A couple standing behind the Klingon turned at his exclamation to give a disparaging look. 

Worf shuffled awkwardly in his seat and looked away from the pair quickly, he leaned forward again and lowered his voice. “I do not see the point of this ceremony.”

“Oh right, yeah I know Worf, I mean we’d all rather be doing other things.”

Geordi gave a sideways glance at Gomez, who was staring at the pair with a look of heavy disapproval. 

“Yeah ok, maybe not all of us,” he said with hands raised in defence.

She rolled her eyes. “You two need to lighten up. Tonight is about appreciation, okay? You don’t have to be so cynical.”

Geordi was about to dispute that statement when the doors slid open and Commander Riker strode in, side by side with Captain Picard. It was at this point that Geordi began shuffling in his seat. He hadn’t quite identified the unease that had sunk in when he entered Ten Forward that evening as nerves, but the sight of the Captain and his first officer made it pretty clear.

From what Geordi had gathered from the gossip spreading around the Enterprise that day, the general opinion was that the award was slightly trivial. More a condescending pat on the back than a real noteworthy honor. Geordi felt much the same way, and the thought of having to get up on stage in front of his superiors was starting to make him cringe.

Not that Geordi was sure he was going to win, but come on. The rumour was that the award would be going to someone in engineering, and well, he was sort of the obvious choice. Sure, handing it to the chief of the department was a little on the nose, but if they were truly looking for the hardest-working individual in the division, they’d be hard-pressed finding anyone harder-working than him. If he did say so himself.

From where Geordi was seated - at that point more or less ignoring whatever Gomez and Worf were talking about - he could see Riker and Picard chuckling about something.

He would play it cool, he decided, turning back to the bar and taking a sip of synthehol. Be humble, express his sincere gratitude but try to exude a kind of casualness about the whole thing; less seriously honoured and more ‘aw wow this is sweet guys.’ Obviously he would find a more eloquent way of saying it when he was presented with the award, but that was the idea. 

He was so preoccupied with planning out the exact words to convey this subtle blend of sincere appreciation and cool indifference, that he hadn’t noticed Guinan staring at him with a knowing smile from the other side of the bar. 

“What’s that look for?”

The ship's bartender raised her eyebrows, feigning innocence. “What look?” 

“The… Guinan look,” he said, for lack of a better term.

She simply went back to polishing glasses, a pointless endeavour considering the replicators produced perfectly polished glasses at a moment's notice. Still, it succeeded in making her look pointedly uninterested.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said, smiling.

“Hmm,” was all Geordi could muster in response before Gomez started nudging his side.

“Look, look, look.” Gomez was pointing towards where the Captain was now taking to the stage, accompanied by his first officer.

Applause broke out throughout the bar as Picard approached the microphone.

“Friends, I’d like to welcome you all today to this very exciting ceremony.”

“Is he trying to sound sarcastic? Because that sounded a little sarcastic.” Geordi whispered at Gomez, who gave him another nudge.

“As many of you already know, today I have the honour of announcing the winner of our newly instated annual Outstanding Achievement award.” 

Another round of applause filled the room, Geordi joining in only after a third sharp elbow from Gomez.

“Starfleet have decided to implement this award to fittingly honour the excellence and dedication of our proud service, outside the more traditional medals and decorations. This award was created to celebrate the achievements of all those in Starfleet, from our Scientists and Engineers to our Teachers and Caterers.” 

Geordi scoffed at that. “Right, you know, the 'lesser roles.' It’s a little condescending don’t you think?” 

“Shut up, Geordi,” Gomez whispered back through a tight smile.

“So without any further ado, I’d like to present this Outstanding Achievement award to…”

Geordi rolled his eyes. “Really with the dramatic pause?”

“Zandra Taitt!”

In that exact moment the thought, ‘oh my god how embarrassing’, hit Geordi’s mind before the more pressing ‘who the hell is that?’ did. By this point, Geordi was so self-assured in his success that the humiliation of being completely wrong was far more urgent than the specific details of how wrong he had been.

“Who the hell is that?” was still the first words to come out of his mouth however.

Not that anyone heard him. The applause that broke out throughout Ten Forward at this reveal was absolutely deafening. Whoever Zandra Taitt was, they were pretty damn popular judging by the cheering and rapturous applause.

“Zandra who?” Geordi repeated as the whooping, cheering and chanting of “go zandra, go zandra,” finally began to fizzle out.

Gomez simply shushed him again, staring at the stage enraptured and waving Geordi off harshly.

A young ensign, who Geordi maybe, kind of recognised, had now taken to the stage. Eyes aglow, cheeks flushed pink, looking the perfect image of complete humility. 

“Oh my goodness,” she said, slightly breathless. “Thank you so much. Sorry, um I don’t know what to say.”

A few more cheers and a “GO ON ZANDRA,” before the room settled into silence as she began her speech.

“Thank you. Um, I haven’t been on the Enterprise for that long. Just being here feels like such an honor, but this? Really thank you so much.” She gestured toward the Captain, who smiled and nodded proudly in turn.

She continued, cheerily commending her coworkers and thanking Lieutenant Commander so-and-so for how great a mentor they had been, all bashful and modest. Even Geordi was borderline enchanted by this point.

She wrapped things up with another breathless ‘thank you,’ and a slight trip and stumble as she exited the stage that was oh-so charming and conjured up an even more thunderous round of applause - which very much included Gomez who was actually yelling “Bravo”.

She glanced over at Geordi who was staring at her with raised eyebrows.

“What?”

He shook his head and turned to Worf for some kind of support, but he had already begun to turn his attention back to his glass of prune juice, apparently bored of the whole affair.

“Do you even know her Sonya?” Geordi whispered as Zandra took her seat, and the applause died down.

Gomez blushed at this. 

“Yeah, I mean - well I mean no, I mean we - I’ve seen her around. We have spoken once, um I guess, I don’t really think she remembers me…”

Geordi nodded slowly. “Uhuh.”

Riker had reappeared on stage to wrap up, saying something about admiration but Geordi had stopped listening. He, like Gomez, had his sights trained on where Taitt was now sitting with a group of friends, looking shy and receiving enthusiastic pats on the shoulder.

Worf had apparently taken Riker’s final remark to ‘enjoy the rest of the evening’ as permission to be dismissed, as not thirty seconds later he was downing the last of his prune juice and saying goodnight, leaving Geordi and Gomez alone at the bar.

“Well, I’m really pleased with that. Honestly, it couldn't have gone to someone more deserving. She’s incredible.” Gomez said between dreamy, longful sighs, still gazing at Taitt. She was borderline swooning at this point.

“Hm,” was all Geordi gave.

She turned her attention back to her brooding friend. “What?”

“I don’t know. Just seems kind of weird to me?”

“What do you mean?” 

“Well I just - I don’t really know who she is.”

“So, she isn’t important?”

Yeah no, that sounded bad. “No! No, Sonya that’s not what i meant-“

“Well, what do you mean?”

“Nothing Sonya, really. I’m sorry, I’m just in a bad mood ok?”

Gomez seemed satisfied to let it go for a moment. “...I thought you didn’t care?”

“I don’t.” Geordi sighed and placed his empty glass down on the bar. 

He stared in the empty bottom of his glass for just a brief moment, before gesturing towards Guinan. “Can I get another drink please? Perhaps a real one this time.”


End file.
